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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1901)
THE COURIER. 10 Ml r i m LINCOLN LETTER. Lincoln, Nebr , April 25, 1901. Dear Penelope: 1 have not been in Omaha for a long time. Ie it as dirty as Lincoln? Do men stand about on the corners and be tween the corners leaning up 8gainst any apace left unoccupied by the abut ting merchant, lazily watching the passers-by and making remarks on the wo men. Plain or pretty, everybody who pa&ses has to run the gauntlet of imper tinent staring. When young and pret ty women pass they are ogled and coughed at Don't jou remember how we used to dote on Maurice Barrymore? Do you remember, the matinee when be played Armand to Mme. Modjeeka's Camille how we both decided that he was the handsomest and noblest looking man we ever saw? He has stayed youog and handsome as long as Cleopatra. Now poor Barrymore ia in an asylum and he and bis daughter have changed places. It is she who protects and cheers him. He has been an exemplary family man in spite of his beauty, talent and lovable ness. Very early he went to work at his profession, and although, on account of his extraordinary good looks and his lazy, graceful indifferent manner he has been the idol of the matinee girls and has received bushels of ignorant, roman tic letters from them, which he always and immediately destroyed, he it not spoiled or lets than a good-natured, manly man whom his friends lova and respect. Just what Barrymore lacked to make him a great artist 1 do not know. But he never quite crossed the line which devides the immortals from the ephemera. lie had the most com forting, warming, most lasting quality that of making devoted friends. Every, Dody loved him and there are many in the profession who are saddened by the news of their beloved Barrymore's in curable illness. The third artist recital by the Mati nee Mueicale this season was given on Monday April 29 in Walsh's ball. The Matinee Mueicale is to music in Lin coln what King Ludwig of Bavaria was to Wagner. This society is an en courager and supporter of the best things in music. It is educating the pub lic and the time is coming when email halls will not accommodate the great vocalists and instrumentalists who come here. I thought what you said about Mr. Oacnr Gareissen was very pretty and poetic, but, Penelope, you have a facile pen, and beautiful words and phrases glide off the end of it on the paper with out any effort on your part. Yours is the inspired fist and I supposed you had idealized Mr. Gareissen until I heard him. Is he not an artist to his finger tips? How exquisitely he shades his songs and with how few strokes he accomplishes his drawing! Not a bit f assy, and his color is clear, no muddy aimless etrokee to fill in the background. I like hiB manner, too, quick and .ami able, immediately impressionable, and cordial and confidential with an audi ence. It k extremely flattering to an audi ence to be treated on the level by a great artist. Mr. Gareissen did not sing down to us, but treated ua aa though we might have sung his German, French and English songs ourselves. The days of his boyhood are not a closed book to him. Like all poets who reach the. emo tions and make us better, who regener ate us and yank us back to the heaven we came from and have been slipping way from ever since we were babies, Mr. Gareissen has immortal youth. Some partial god has placed him in a constellation and he remains a boy as he was when he first attracted celes tial attention. Mr. Gareissen enunci ates carefully, nor marB a lyric by elov eoly speaking. His tones are deep, full round and Oh! so heavenly easy. Seems to me a man must be in love with Bome body to so tenderly sing of love. But I do not mean to intrude upon his affairs. A singer with such a tine voico and using so artistic a method might make anybody care for him. I wiBh Jack sung. I could forgive him anything if he only sung like the man from Omaha. The publisher tells me she has re ceived your letter and would print it this week, only it arrived a trifle late and she asked me to get mine in,po that you might not complain of my prompt ness. Miss Harris is frank enough to let me know how very much better the readers of The Courier consider the Omaha letter, but I have agreed to write the Lincoln end, and there is one Pene lope who reads them with the eye of love and that is enough for me. Your letter speaks of a woman in a small town who for very ennui was will ing to elope with an innocent commer cial traveler. Women's clubs have re lieved the ennui of small towns. Twelve or fifteen or a hundred or so persons associated together in a club which must have a change of officers every year, where the color line must.be dis cussed and eventually settled, and healthy animosities are the cause of scraps, get interested in life, and in life in that particular locality. Such women are not troubled with ennui cr nausea of life. A drummer with nothing on his mind but his hair has no attractions for them, either. Besides, they would not magnanimously furnish their comrades with so interesting a topic of con versation by eloping with him. The tedium of life in a small town has driven some people mad and others into elopements or excursions just as Billy. Clubs furnish an interest outside of the heavy routine of house work, rearing children and studying the tastes, appetites and habits of husbands. Children and husbands are interesting and pleasant, but a steady diet of any. thing is tiresome and bad for the diges tion. If strawberries lasted the year round, it might be considered our duty to eat them. In that case they would be nauseatiug, would they not Penelope? Ever your faithful and admiring Eleanor. you'd not wonder that I'm sore. It kep' the crowd a-hollerin' to watch how quick I lit, An' lap' the critter busy with his gol duraed reppitore I At last I says, " I've got enough," an' back I went to Sue, All dust an' dirt an' sheepish like, an' just a leetle lamed. u That pesky mule ! " says L Says she: ' He's got more sense 'n you! I'm gotn' home with Jim and Nan I'd think you'd be ashamed ! " An' so she did her dander up; at what she wouldn't own ; I reckon 'cause I'd been a fool where ev'ryone could see ; An' how the fellers guyed me as I drove off home alone, A-thinkin' of that mule, an' of the trick he'd played on me. THE TRICK MULE. (By Edwin L. Sabin in The Cosmooolitan.) " There's a circus due at Brownsville," called Jim Emerson to me, " An' I reckon from the pictures, ill's a sure rip-roarin' show. The roads are simply elegant, the moon's near full," says he ; u "Whaf s the matter with us fellers gettin' up a crowd to go?" Veil, you know I m never backward when there's any fun aroun' An' I went and asked Sue Prettykin that very srlfsamr night; An' early circus mornin' spied five couples of us boun' To Brownsville for the elephant an' ev rything in sight. You bet we took in what there was . we saw the whole parade, An' et our dinners in a place that taxed us fifty cents, An' gave our ladies chewin' gum an' cream an' lemonade, An blew ourselves to make the roun' of all the side show tents. The circus rely wasn't much ' twas jest the same old: thing ; But then we'd come determined on a bully time, of course Till, shucks! the clown led out a mule, an' started in to sing, ' Here's twenty dollars lor the man who rides our rockin'-horse 1 " 1 dare you I " says Tom Wctherbee. I never take a dare. So up I got, an' clambered down, an' says. "I'll ride your Jack 1 " The clown he never cracked a smile, but says, "Please use him fair. 'We'd hate to have you wear the skin all off our darlin's back." Don't hurt him gosh I If you'd a-seen the sudden way I hit Afore I'd hardly touched him, FAITH. Gilis How was it he didn't meet any Bohemians? Merritt He spent his time dining at v conemiani restaurants. xown -topics. Her Parent But do you realize that marriage is a very Berious matter? Cholly Ob, yea. Awful bore, wor rying whom to invite and whom not. "What makes your little boy get up so early mornings?'9 "He has to; be sells the evening pa pers." Town Topics. I ask my soul How canst thou prepare For a launch into the great Unknown ? It answers, 'tis dark save a feeble flare Of light, which tells me I am not alone. Faint hope can I feel that the dear Lord is near When I pass through the ''shadow of death ," 111 be flooded with joy devoid of all fear When I give up my last fleeting breath . S. E. Athearn. THEATRIGAb. Just Received all the latest styles of the famous : : : FINESTSHOES IN THE WORLD. THE OLIVER. The Grace Hayward Company at the Oliver Theatre, under the personal di rection of Dick Ferris, is an organiza tion of unusual merit. The company numbers twenty five people, carries handsome and adequate scenery for each production, and for the benefit of their patrons who might not like the high class playe. a clever line of specialties are introduced entre act, making a con tinuous performance. The costuming of every play is really a marvel. The artistic work of Miss Hayward wins her way into the hearts of all. She is an artist such as on might expect to find at the head of a 31.50 attraction. Her gowns are simply magnificent, and dur ing her engagement here she will wear fifty-two. She is ably supported by Mr. Ferris, whose work is too well known for commendation, and the company is more evenly balanced and better cast than in many of the New York produc tions. Truly, a great show for little money. At the Oliver, week of May Sth. Lidies free Monday night. Come in and see them. NDER' ON'5 ten W"Wstog) 0STHEET.& - Cycle Photographs Athletic Photographs 0 Photographs of Babies 9 Photographs of Groups 0 Exterior Views THE PHOTOGRAPHER 129 South Eleventh Street. TJltDEK THE DIRECTION or 0. T. CRAWFORD 8 F.C. ZEHRUNG Corner 13th and P. Phone 354 II BIG . IK May 6. saodxj:r:day matinee. Return of the favorites. THE GRASS HAYWARD 60 In'a repertoire of high. class and standard plays. 25 People 25. Two Car- uauo ui opouiiti ouciiery .t iu uig vauaevuie Acts IO. 8 Great Plays 8. Continuous Performance, no waits, no delays between the acts. The Opening- Bill on Monday night will be the heretofore $1.00 production, FRIEKDS." An entire ojange of play and specialties at every performance ; Si?!? nf6 adJtlnd ,re Mn?ay night when accompanied by a person hold ing one regular paid 30c or 50c ticket. fu " Prices 10c, 20c, 30c and 50c. Seats now on sale.